[Depressive state and related factors in nursery teachers and guidance workers in homes for mentally retarded children].

Abstract

A questionnaire survey was conducted in 1991 in order to elucidate depressive state among 352 nursing teachers and guidance workers working in 71 homes for mentally retarded children. The data were analyzed by means of Zung's SDS to study the causative factors in relation to personal attributes, conditions and variables pertaining to work, professional characteristics, and nearby people's expectations and mental support. The results obtained were as follows: 1) The level of depression in the subject population was not particularly higher than that in the general public or other professional groups. 2) The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that labor-related problems, including dissatisfaction with one's work and sense of being overburdened, constituted a factor that led to depression. The condition worsened in proportion to the excess in workload, work hours, and responsibility, irregularity of work shift, along with lack of a sense of fulfillment and teamwork. 3) The factor which counteracted depression was support and mutual reliance from colleagues and supervisors as well as from the children and their families. The more strongly a subject felt mentally supported by these people, and had someone to turn to for advice concerning personal problems, the lower his or her depression score tended to be. 4) Of the professional characteristics specific to the guidance of mentally retarded children, the factors leading to depression were not workload but dissatisfaction or doubt concerning one's own instruction and negative mental attitude toward the children and their families, that is, consciousness and emotion that partly resembled burnout syndrome.